We packed up again and moved on from the Bohemian Forest. Northward, unfortunately. Will I never see the sea again?

At least we are in spa country now, so there’s no shortage of water. The Oldies originally planned to stay near Karlovy Vary, the world-famous spa town otherwise known as Carlsbad, but the only campsite they could find was firmly stuck in the nineteen sixties. It was perfectly functional but positively grim. It gave us all the willies! So we pressed on and eventually found a lovely campsite just outside the second of the trio of famous spa towns, Mariánské Lázně (or Marienbad; Františkovy Lázně being the third).

After setting up camp, we two-wheeled it into town to check it out. What a place! The sheer splendour of the Art Nouveau/Jugendstil hotels and villas is almost overpowering. You just don’t know where to look next. You can well imagine that all those famous visitors of long ago felt very much at home here – Goethe, Chopin, Kaiser Franz Josef, King Edward VII, Mark Twain, et al. (See, even Al was here!)

What is striking about Mariánské Lázně is that the whole centre of town is basically one huge park, dotted with springs which are housed in everything from quite simple gazebos to huge, gloriously decorated Art Nouveau pavilions. Hardly any traffic, lots nature and beautiful architecture, so just being here is in itself most relaxing. The wingless wonders tend to cycle and walk at quite a pace (for their age, bless ‘em), but even they found themselves slowing to a crawl in these surroundings.

We all tried a good few of the dozens of springs in Mariánské Lázně (the tradition is to buy a special ceramic sipping cup, then stroll from spring to spring). The Oldies liked the taste of most of them but declared some of them, in their own unprofessional opinion, ‘pretty yeuch’. Of course, it’s not the taste that matters, but the properties of the water in each spring. Each one can purportedly cure a range of illnesses and ailments. The most famous spring, the Cross Spring at the Colonnade, has a very strong sulphurous taste, so the trick is to nibble oplatky (wafers) while you sip.

I don’t like wafers and all that water sounds far too healthy. I’ll think I’ll stick with the beer.

I’ve been so busy blogging, I’ve only just noticed that the Oldies have snuck out for the evening without me, the rotters! Earlier on, they’d been muttering about ‘getting a bit of fresh air’ and ‘going for a healthy walk’, but they can’t fool me. I’m pretty certain that they have headed out for a wild night on the town. And I know where, too: